AbstractA general expression for the effective viscosity of a dilute suspension of arbitrary-shaped particles in linear shear flow between two parallel walls is derived in terms of the induced stresslets on particles. This formula is applied to $N$-bead rods and to prolate spheroids with the same length, aspect ratio and volume. The effective viscosity of non-Brownian particles in a periodic shear flow is considered here. The oscillating frequency is high enough for the particle orientation and centre-of-mass distribution to be practically frozen, yet small enough for the flow to be quasi-steady. It is known that for spheres, the intrinsic viscosity $[{\it\mu}]$ increases monotonically when the distance $H$ between the walls is decreased. The dependence is more complex for both types of elongated particles. Three regimes are theoretically predicted here: (i) a ‘weakly confined’ regime (for $H>l$, where $l$ is the particle length), where $[{\it\mu}]$ is slightly larger for smaller $H$; (ii) a ‘semi-confined’ regime, when $H$ becomes smaller than $l$, where $[{\it\mu}]$ rapidly decreases since the geometric constraints eliminate particle orientations corresponding to the largest stresslets; (iii) a ‘strongly confined’ regime when $H$ becomes smaller than 2–3 particle widths $d$, where $[{\it\mu}]$ rapidly increases owing to the strong hydrodynamic coupling with the walls. In addition, for sufficiently slender particles (with aspect ratio larger than 5–6) there is a domain of narrow gaps for which the intrinsic viscosity is smaller than that in unbounded fluid.
Effective viscosity of a dilute suspension of membrane-bound inclusions
